Revised changes to NHPs: Please take action!

Last year, Health Canada proposed Cost Recovery Fees for the Natural Health Product (NHP) industry, drawing widespread criticism for excessive costs. In response, a collective effort by the Health Food Industry led by the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA), practitioners and other stakeholders across Canada ensued. Over 350,000 physical postcards and letters, 4,696 online submissions, and numerous emails flooded Health Canada (HC), signaling strong industry and public concern.

HC’s acknowledgment was evident when, on March 27th, 2024, they revised the Cost Recovery Program and is currently open for feedback up to the April 25th, 2024 deadline. The update included an amended fee structure and a phased 7-year implementation period for the new fees. Despite HC’s revised proposal, the proposed fees for compliance remain unacceptably high, especially given the extensive list of ingredients in both TCM and Western herbal pharmacopeia, which include hundreds of plant species. The proposed fees could lead to the necessity of discontinuing certain products in Canada, thus reducing options for practitioners and patients alike.

Some of you may have recently received the update and call to action email from owners of Eastern Currents, John Stan and Kelly Kitchen.  Since they did such an excellent job of summarizing how you can help and their suggestions are aligned with TCMO’s mission to support our TCM colleagues, we urge you to consider taking the following actions – and do it SOON!

1. Respond to HC’s request before the deadline by filling in the survey:

Note: The survey will ask for a response to their new proposed fees in a box that offers you a limit of 5000 characters including spaces. This gives you range of 750 – 1250 words in general. To give you an idea to this point roughly 8,000 characters and 1,350 words have been typed, so you have some space to get your point across.  

Points to consider in your response

• If you are a TCM practitioner – reflect the safety of TCM herbs and their historical safe use.

• Reflect that your materia medica has hundreds of substances. Imposing costs in addition to the costs your current supplier is currently being burdened with by managing regulatory concerns,  is unreasonable and unnecessary to your supplier and you as a healthcare provider

• Reflect that your access to a constant and varied supply of ingredients is essential to the needs of your patients.

• Reflect that bankrupting the supply chain of products in the NHP industry will only further burden the current medical industry, which in many ways is relieved in part by the services you offer to patients and your access to NHPs

2. Engage Your Local MP for both your house and place of business

• Call and ask for a meeting with your MP. If your place of business is in a riding different from your home, then you can contact both MPs.

• Reflect in the meeting that you are following up on the HC Cost Recovery proposal for NHPs.

• State or re-iterate that the new fees and the7 year ramp up period are still unacceptable as your TCM supplier will not be able to maintain the full range of the products you normally use.

• Reflect that you want to be shown the data that demonstrates NHPs are causing harm and the millions of users in Canada are at risk. Ask the MP to put in a request to government for such data that specifically outlines harms or AE caused by NHPs. State you would like a copy of this. (note: if they don’t provide you with anything over the next two or three months, then in reality no such data is available, or it is not reflective of the need for excessive regulatory control). In this instance use this as case in point with your MP and encourage the MP to challenge her/his party to reject any further regulatory pressure put on the NHP industry.

• Consider the issues that are in the forefront for you in the next election. If the right to access NHPs is one of them, then share this with your MP. Votes are high level motivators for government.

3. Continue to encourage your patients to reflect their concerns to the government.

• Have them write their MP, or the Health Minister

• Email them this link to the SOS campaign being sponsored by the CHFA https://chfa.ca/en/Advocacy/NHPs

• Ask them to read the page and focus on the section “How You Can Help” tell them there are a number of tools in that section that they can easily use. Ask them to participate with these tools as much as they can.

• Over multiple visits, keep talking about their engagement on this issue. Gently encourage some action if they voluntarily report they haven’t done anything yet. Make a note in your files if they did or not. We found that gentle reminders are effective, but you may also need to back off in asking if they clearly say that they will do something but after two or three inquiries they report that they did not. Some people will just say yes and do nothing. But, for many, a gentle reminder works wonders.

Consistent, collective action DOES have the potential to influence and modify proposed changes, so please act now!

Announcing: TCMO’s New Grad Event

We’re excited to invite all TCMO members and guests to join us on May 27th for a special event especially tailored for those new (or soon to be new) to the profession.

In this informal, approachable panel discussion and opportunity for networking, you will gain valuable insights and learnings gleaned from other practitioners’ learnings during their initial years of practice. Topics such as navigating the transition into working at a clinic, figuring out the essentials like insurance and contractor agreements, building a successful patient base, and fostering professional growth. Whether you’re almost finished your program, or are up to 5 years post-graduating, this event aims to equip you with practical tools, strategies and connections to thrive in your professional journey.

Upcoming: Microneedling Info-Sharing Session

The TCMO is pleased to offer the opportunity for our members to have virtual and in person conversations on topics relevant to the profession. With this in mind, we are pleased to co-host a peer-shared information session, based on TCMO member Bahareh Hosseini’s experience incorporating microneedling into her practice over the past 2 years. Please note this is a peer exchange session rather than a “training” session. Suggestions regarding investing in a device, insights about how to approach insurance coverage, and other learning resources will be shared.

Please note that practitioners need to do their own due diligence when adding microneedling to their practice.

Peer-shared Information Session on Microneedling

Host: Bahareh Hosseini, R.TCMP, R.Ac

Co-Hosted by: TCMO  

Date: Sunday April 28, 2024

Time: 4:00pm EST

Cost: Free for all interested in attending the Zoom meeting in real-time. The recording will be available afterwards to TCMO members

Agenda:

• What is microneedling used for

• How can microneedling potentially fit in an acupuncture practice and scope: pros and cons

• Acupuncturist microneedling vs esthetician microneedling

• Difference between US and Canada

• Devices and consumables used in microneedling treatments

• Combining microneedling and acupuncture in practice

• Training resources for microneedling

Continuing Ed: Discounts for TCMO Members with Pacific Rim College Online

Perks with Perkopolis

We recently announced our partnership with Perkopolis to provide deals and discounts to all our valued members.

Perkopolis is an online platform which provides exclusive entertainment and lifestyle discounts, gift card rewards, enhanced insurance benefits and other value-added perks.

Discounts range from 5-25% off major brands in various industries –  both provincial and national (could be used while travelling in Canada).

On average, 9+ new perks are added each month.

How do you get access to these amazing perks?

1. Log into the member portal at https://www.tcmo.ca/login/
2. Click “Members Only > My Account” or click this direct link.
3. Click EDIT PROFILE at the bottom of the page.
4. Check the box labelled “Yes, share my name, email, with partnered vendors to ensure access to all discounts.”

Once completed you’ll be sent an account setup email from Perkopolis directly. It’s that simple, and we are confident that you are going to LOVE the Perkopolis perks.